Ketschker Turns

A German handler has commented that we run our dogs very
differently in the UK. We tend to run from behind and give the dog
directionals whereas in Germany they have their dogs running close to
them and they do lots of crosses. To use this style of handling
you need to be very close to or in front of your dog all the time.
This is something that isn't possible for a lot of us and it would
exclude disabled handlers altogether. However, the Germans do have
an interesting turn that might come in useful one day. It's known
as the Ketschker turn. Here's an example that's easy to follow.

I told Sasha about the Ketschker turn and she was a bit
sniffy, but nevertheless she agreed to try it.

The first
thing we noticed was that it was exactly the same as the left about turn
in rally obedience except there's a jump in the way in the Ketschker
turn. Here's the rally version. The dog goes around to the
right of the handler while the handler does a U turn to the left.
We'd been practising in the garden during the summer and it wasn't as
difficult as it looks.

To do the Ketschker turn we needed to add a jump.
The beauty of this is that you can learn this move with only one jump.
We started without the pole and gradually built up to full height.
By doing it this way it's easier to get the dog to wrap closer round the
jump wing. Here's a video of me training with Sasha and trying to
perfect our German style handling. Whether we'll ever use it or
not is another matter but we'll see.

Finally, if you want to see how the Germans handle their dogs and why an
elderly overweight lady doesn't do it this way here's a video clip.